The first thing to
bear in mind is, if this is a soundboard recording, the guy at the desk
has a lot to answer for. But this document of the second night of Van
Der Graaf's second Italian tour is essential listening regardless, the
sound of the band both attaining the peak of its musical powers, and approaching
the peak of the internal tensions that would tear them apart within a
matter of months.

Set to a backdrop
of a semi-delirious audience, the set itself is a dynamic rendering of
the band's settled in concert repertoire, highlighting favorites from
the last three albums - "White Hammer," "Darkness," "Lemming," "Lost,"
and so forth - but wrapping up around a monstrous excursion through their
debut's most lasting monuments, "Octopus" and "Aquarian." "Octopus," of
course, had been revisited during the sessions for the band's last album,
Pawn Hearts, and while the recording was ultimately dropped from the LP,
the rearrangement remained on the band's mind. Meanwhile, a snatch of
"Theme One" adds a delirious edge to the medley, while "Aquarian" can
rarely have sounded so impassioned.

The Brescia gig ends
there; the CD, however, continues on with a live-in-the-studio rendering
of "A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers." The packaging credits the performance
to "London, 1970"; in fact, it's the oft-circulated Belgian TV version,
from March 1972. -
Dave Thompson